an Augmented Reality Resource

Menu

News

Now that Archangel: Hellfire is out (and is pretty good!), developer Skydance Interactive is ready to announce its next VR project: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

We actually reported that Skydance had partnered with the company behind the massive zombie franchise, Skybound, last year, but the game was officially revealed for the first time at Comic-Con today. Saints & Sinners is set in New Orleans and will have players surviving the zombie apocalypse first-hand. While you can be sure there’ll be plenty of zombie-slaying action, Skydance also wants you to make tough moral choices in the game, hence the name.

Compatible headsets haven’t yet been announced. In fact, all we have at this time is some teaser art, which suggests we’ll be burying our axes deep into some zombie necks. Lovely.

This actually isn’t the first VR experience based on The Walking Dead out there. Starbreeze has an arcade-style experience for its StarVR headset, for example, and we’ve also recently been spending some time with the series’ first foray into VR in The Walking Dead: Our World. This is the first full Walking Dead VR game we’ll be able to take home to play in our headsets, though.

Seismic Games is about to go from making virtual reality games to augmented reality ones.

Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs this week announced that it has acquired the Los Angeles-based studio for an undisclosed sum. Seismic Games was founded by former members of the EA-owned Pandemic Studios, and is best known for Marvel: Strike Force, a free-to-play mobile game starring the popular comic book heroes. The studio is also behind Blade Runner: Revelations, a launch title for Google and Lenovo’s Mirage Solo standalone VR headset.

In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Niantic confirmed that Seismic will finish up work on its existing titles before moving on to work on “all new AR experiences” as part of the company. Specifically, Niantic noted that the studio will accelerate its work on the Niantic Real World Platform, which is improving its existing AR experiences adding new features like support for occlusion. We saw the tech at work a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty impressive. Revelations was notable for achieving high-quality visuals on a mobile device using Google’s Seurat software, so the studio is no stranger to using new technologies.

Elsewhere, Niantic is also working on a Harry Potter AR game and a sequel to its original AR title, Ingress. It’s not clear if we’ll see an actual game from Seismic just yet, but we’re certainly interested to see what they can do with the medium.

Sony released another movie this month, which of course means there’s a tie-in VR experience to go with it. This time it’s the Hotel Transylvania series getting the headset treatment.

Sony Pictures Virtual Reality today announced Hotel Transylvania Popstic, tying into the recent release of the third entry in the animated movie series. As the game suggests, it’s a new addition to Specular Theory’s Popstic platform, which uses a custom peripheral attachment called the Stic that attaches to a single HTC Vive controller to bring it into VR. The device is currently available in over 500 VR arcades across the world, where you can play the game.

In the case of Hotel Transylvania Popstic, it’s used for a Beat Saber-like rhythm game. Players can choose between different characters from the animated series to serve as DJs, each with their own unique songs. You have what looks like a double-edged lightsaber that’s used to slash notes that arrive on a beat. There are also walls to avoid as you go. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Well, based on the trailer above, it looks pretty similar too.

Not that Beat Saber itself was the first VR rhythm game or anything. That said, earlier this month we reported that that game’s coming to arcades too.

For all of the exotic comic book locations confirmed for Marvel: Powers United VR thus far, the staple of superhero land hasn’t yet been confirmed. That changes today.

Yes, downtown New York City will be available in the game when it launches next week. The war-torn streets will resemble something like the climactic battle of the original Avengers movie, with train cars spilling off of tracks and debris everywhere. Any Marvel fans knows that New York is where most of the heroes like to hang their hat, so it’s great to see it finally confirmed for the game.

Also confirmed today is Attlian, the kingdom of the Inhumans, ruled over by Black Bolt, which has at times hovered over New York itself. Expect an Asgard-like sprawling city to do battle in.

Not long to wait now; Marvel: Powers United VR launches exclusively on the Oculus Rift on July 26th. We’re expecting more announcements for the game at Comic-Con tomorrow.

It looks like one of the best-looking VR games of 2018 will be with us in a few short weeks.

Torn from Aspyr games just got a pre-order listing on the PlayStation Store, which itself states the game is launching on August 28th. We’ve reached out to the developer to confirm the date is accurate. The page also confirms the game will cost $29.99, but if you pre-order you can get it for 15% off (or 20% if you’re a PS Plus member).

The game’s also coming to the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, though we don’t see any release dates listed on those respective stores right now.

In Torn you play as Katherine Patterson, a video blogger that discovers a forgotten mansion deep in the heart of a thick forest. You explore the abandoned building, finding out about the life of Dr. Lawrence Talbot, who lived there until his strange disappearance over 64 years ago. Solving puzzles as you go, you begin to piece together what happened to Talbot and his work with another dimension. Expect to manipulate objects with telekinesis, pull switches and visit other realities.

One of the most notable things about the game, though, is that it’s visually stunning. Meticulously detailed mansion rooms and a gorgeous surrounding forest as just begging to be explored in VR. It looks like a treat for the eyes and, based on our recent preview, we’re hoping the gameplay measures up too.

The Big Apple takes a dip in this location-based augmented experience from Microsoft. According to researchers, if sea levels continue to rise as an effect of climate change, Manhattan will be completely submerged underwater within the next 80 years. In 2012, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that by 2100 sea levels could rise from 11